Category: community and culture
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Conversations and Conflicts
I had hopes for a recent Chicago Public Library event, which was co-sponsored by the Clarence Darrow Commemorative Committee, about the 1925 Scopes trial and banned books. I didn’t expect such a sparse audience, which given the venue might have surprised the organizers as well. Nonetheless, I settled into a seat and later focused on…
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Seductive Sirens
I wanted to like Chris Hayes’s (2025) new book. Instead, I found myself wanting more from it. Hayes compares the commodification of labor in the nineteenth century to the commodification of attention today. In doing so, he distinguishes among voluntary, involuntary, and social attention (27ff) and contrasts boredom and idleness (59ff) before considering the deep…
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Hands Off!
Hands Off 2025